Owning an exclusive club in Hong Kong isn’t easy. If it’s not people in flip-flops breaching the guards, it’s three other clubs springing up and biting your members-only shit. What’s a simple conglomerate who owns one of Central’s hottest clubs to do?
You could take a cue from what clubs are already doing. For example, you could ignore the tacky newcomers and concentrate on improving what people love about you. You could instruct your black-suited army to increase the forbidding in their glares, tighten the ban on open-air footwear and, possibly most important, score the finest DJs who play only the most relevant. May we suggest Nelly and his classic song “Hot in Here”?
Of course, many shrewd clubs have already taken this line of defense, so you may want to go for a whole different niche. The early 20s “AZN”-pride demographic is all sewn up, but what about the older counterparts to these beacons of our shiny future? You know, the ones for whom Chivas is a cheap and reliable investment for potential sex. They’d probably like to buy it in a club where nobody can get in until the managers remember that the place is completely empty.
Maybe you could score a strategic partnership with some luxury brand. You’ll then want to do something artistic yet profitable like plaster several thousand unobtrusive logos around the place, or even embed precious stones into the walls. Don’t worry – it’ll practically pay for itself!
Or, you could think like a few simple club-owning conglomerates think: OK, excuse the crazy person, but what if we assume not all clubbers get it on by dirty dancing to Daddy Yankee? It’s a one in a million chance, but throwing on some breaks or electro just might work!
So for the rest of October, I'm hitting up Volar Fridays, Halo most days, and on the 27th, Dragon-i, just ‘cause they’ve been spending all those members’ dollars on music and DJs that (usually) don’t instruct you to jump around, jump around. Well, if I can get in with my flip-flops, that is.
